Honestly?  With hundreds of thousands of pieces of music out there, there HAS TO BE SOME similarities between parts of guitar riffs, interludes, bridges.  Where do you draw the line?  That said, I have to say that there are probably more similarities between "Let's Get It On" and "Thinking Out Loud."  Certainly more than the plagiarism suit filed by The Chiffons and "He's So Fine" against George Harrison for "My Sweet Lord."  Were I on a jury adjudicating the Gaye-Sheehan case, I could easily conclude the same level of guilt with the same adjudication summary: "subconscious plagiarism."  In my humble opinion, that is more likely to favor the plaintiff (which it was in Chiffons-Harrison suit) than a straight-up "plagiaristic intent."  Note: in the end Harrison admitted "inspiration" from O Happy Days.
All that said, I personally thought that the band, Spirit, who sued Led Zepp (Taurus vs Stairway To Heaven) and lost, got the short end of that stick.  Such a classic acoustic guitar riff opening to Zepp's Stairway To Heaven is similar enough to the guitar riff in Taurus to warrant an award or some sort of settlement. 
In the end, regardless of the similarities, or dissimilarities, I could understand if there was at least some sort of settlement but far less than the damages filed for in these suits.
 

Last edited by Little Rich (April 24, 2023 7:08 pm)

I heard something about this in the news.  I really wasn’t paying attention, so I didn’t get the source, but the claim made was that Marvin Gaye did not invent the chord sequence and it had been used in songs prior to Let's Get It On.

The AP story:

Jury finds Ed Sheeran didn’t copy Marvin Gaye classic

Lorne wrote:

Here's an article about 10 other hits where there were allegations of copying. 
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/2023/05/04/ed-sheeran-wins-his-copyright-trial-here-are-10-other-hits-that-were-accused-of-being-copycats.html

I think the first such lawsuit I heard of is when Boyce and Hart sued Johnny Nash, claiming he ripped off Hold Me Tight from Last Train To Clarksville. They won the suit, and although I can hear bits that sound similar, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say he stole the melody.
 

Lorne wrote:

I really like "Hold Me Tight" and I also like "Last Train to Clarksville", but I had never heard about this. So I did a search, and the best that I could come up with was a Spanish-language site at https://www.similarrock.com/johnny-nash-the-monkees/ that Google translates as saying:
As Paco points out in the section of this website intended to suggest similarities between songs, "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash is reminiscent of "Last Train to Clarksville" by The Monkees.

So I'd be interested in any further details about this if they're available. I do remember, many years ago, hearing an announcer comment on Andy KIm's "Rainbow Ride" having a bit of a similarity to "Last Train to Clarksville". But I don't believe that this was enough to lead to any legal action. 

I was going from memory, and a pretty old memory, which is always a dangerous thing. I tried to find an online version of Bobby Hart's bio book but no luck.